5 Ways to Boost Your Conversion Rate
Your conversion rate is the percentage of people who buy from you as opposed to those who could have bought but didn’t. For example, if you had 10 people walk through your store today and you sold to only 3 of them, you’d have a conversion rate of 3 out of 10, or 30 percent.
Once you get people through the door, you must make the most out of every opportunity. You must turn those prospects into sales.
Here are 5 ways to dramatically increase your conversion rate:
- Written Guarantee
Write a guarantee that addresses the customer’s key frustrations in buying from you. For example, a hairdresser that guarantees “you will like your haircut and so will 98% of your friends.” Or a dentist who guarantees “no pain.” Pick one thing that people are scared of when buying from you, and guarantee that it won’t be a problem. If it does turn out to be a problem, offer to make it right.
Hints and tips:
- Find out what your customers want above all else, and then promise to deliver just that.
- Include this promise in all your literature and advertising. Make it a real selling point.
- If you don’t deliver on the promise, make sure your team is empowered to correct it.
- Don’t ever promise more than you can deliver.
- Define Your Uniqueness
If there’s nothing different about you, people will only buy from you because of convenience or price, nothing more. Moreover, you’ll never be able to raise your prices because if there’s anyone doing it cheaper, people will buy from that business. You need to work out what is special about you, and then make a big deal about it. Don’t just say “quality” or “price.” These are empty terms. Make it very specific and meaningful.
Hints and tips:
- Sit down and ask yourself, “what is it that makes us stand apart from the rest?”
- Don’t underestimate the power of uniqueness – simply by doing something different, you can get lots of attention.
- If there’s nothing unique about what you do, start changing or adding things.
- Print a Benefits and Testimonials List
This is a sheet that you can give to people who come to look or ask about your product/service. It contains the 3-5 most important things about your product/service, or the 7 reasons yours is a better choice for them. Alternately, print testimonials from your past customers about how good you are. A mix of both can work very well.
Hints and tips:
- Help people make a decision by clearly explaining how it will positively benefit them.
- Use testimonials to show customers that they aren’t the first to buy this product – that it’s okay to say “yes.”
- Testimonials help reassure people’s decisions – a real human need.
- Offers
To seal the deal, throw in something that they didn’t expect; something that gives them the perception that they’re getting a great deal. Then, place a time limit on the offer to push them to decide. Make sure it’s something that they will value, but which doesn’t cost you very much. For example, some car lots offer buyers “a full tank of gas if you sign today.” You’d be amazed how many people are swung to buying a $50,000 car because of $30 worth of free gas.
Hints and tips:
- Look for low-cost products that have a high perception
- Stipulate a time frame during which the offer is available.
- Make the special something either useful or very memorable.
- Educate on Value, Not Price
Remember that people want a good deal, not the cheapest. They will be happier spending the money to get something that does exactly what they want, rather than spending less on a product that only does half the job. Explain why some people charge less, and what the prospects will miss out on if they do it on the cheap.
Hints and tips:
- Emphasize value.
- Explain why your product/service is more expensive.
- Compare yourself to others on quality and service, and all of a sudden price becomes almost irrelevant.
Increasing your conversion rates can be a gold mine for your business. You already have the potential customers interested; now you just have to get them over the line. Remember: if you double your conversion rate, you will double your revenue.
